Thompson, Tracie – Drawing and Painting Horses

With fond memories of her time here, we include her thoughtfully prepared notes on pastel materials for your continued benefit.

  • Drawing pad, 11×14” or larger; newsprint is fine
  • 12” (or longer) ruler
  • Kneaded eraser
  • Pastel pencil — one CarbOthello #620 or similar terra-cotta colored pencil (Blick Art Supply carries these)
  • Vine or willow charcoal, soft
  • Photos of your favorite horses as references. You can print these at home (printed on a standard home inkjet printer on regular typing paper is ideal) or we can print them at the Art
    Center

For the painting portion of the class, we will determine the size of canvas you need based on the image you choose to work with.

Oil or acrylic colors you’ll need:

  • Titanium White
  • Ultramarine Blue
  • Phthalocyanine Blue (often sold as Winsor Blue or Thalo Blue or other names; check the pigment label if unsure)
  • Cadmium Yellow Medium, NOT “hue” — the one expensive pigment you really need
  • Alizarin Crimson. Several colors are sold under this name and they are very different. Yours should be DEEP transparent wine red, not pink/mauve or fire engine red
  • Cadmium Red Light or Naphthol Crimson
  • Burnt Sienna
  • Raw Sienna
  • Burnt Umber
  • Clear Acrylic Gloss Medium (if working in acrylic), small 4 to 8 oz bottle is fine
  • For oils: Linseed, walnut, or safflower oil, small bottle
  • Odorless mineral spirits such as Gamsol or Turpenoid

Other supplies:

  • Rags or paper towels
  • Palette knife

 

Brushes:

One each in either white hog bristle or a synthetic designed for oils/acrylics. Blick Scholastic works well; Princeton white nylon; or my favorites, Silver Brush Company “Bristlon”
which are available from jerrysartarama.com or many independent art supply stores such as Wet Paint in St. Paul. You won’t need brushes the first week or two, so if you’d like in person
guidance you can wait on this purchase. I’m giving sizes by width or length of the brush rather than the number on the handle, as those are wildly variable from one line of brushes to the other.

  • 3/4” to 1” Flat
  • 3/8” to 1/2” Flat
  • 1/2” to 3/4” Filbert
  • Small, fine pointed round synthetic brush about 1/2” to 3/4” length, for eye details